REVIEW FOR CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS - THE INDIAN TOILET AND THE ART OF RUIKE

A Japanese artist shows his fascination for one of the nation's most cathartic processes - toilet cleaning.

ICONART Gallery is organising an art exhibition titled Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness - The Indian Toilet And The Art Of Ruike, by Toshiaki Ruike, exemplifies the artist's fascination by the white tiles of the Indian toilets. 26 paintings will be on display at the gallery till 27th November.

Toshiaki Ruike of Japan is a sewage engineer, and has been in India for assignments for quite some time. For work he has to travel a lot, visit many countries and meet new people. This led him to come up with a very unique and radical method of expression - painting in bathrooms. The artist paints on the walls of the bathroom, takes its image in his camera and then wipes it clean. So the image becomes his final art work, which is convenient to be carried around during his frequent travels.

The concept of the artist’s work is Fragile Art - the process of painting is such that there are no traces left on the wall on which the artist paints, as he cleans it completely. Similarly, his paintings revolve around myriad fragile aspects of life. He has worked on series with titles such as Fragile Love, Fragile Human Life and Fragile Natural Environment.

The glossy and smooth surface of the tiles provides for the best space for the artist to deal with rapid and free strokes, which enliven the surface. In the present series of works, the artist also goes deep into the vicinities of toilet cleaning. He insists that the cleaning of a toilet keeps the mind and spirit pure. A few works titled 'Things Unseen', 'Angel' and others, are based on this idea. A flower, being one of nature's most fragile things, appears frequently in his works.

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